All the top ten players are down to participate in the Chess Classic / Kasparov
up for auction / The Pope will not play against Bobby Fischer / An interview
with Hans-Walter Schmitt

Mr. Schmitt, the chess world began
to fear that another renowned tournament might disappear from the calendar.
Rumours - even top players' fears - are spreading that a profitable tournament
might be lost from the calendar: why have plans for the Frankfurt Chess Classic
been put together at so late a date?

There is a well-known saying: Rome wasn't built in a day! Designing the year
2000 tournament proved to be very tricky and demanding, as I had to reconcile
the interests of players and of the main sponsors: on the one hand the interest
of the 'Fritz on Primergy' devotees and on the other hand participants in
the Fujitsu Siemens Giants tournament. In particular Garry Kasparov, the
best chess player of all times, had his own views and ideas. Besides, the
organiser wished to retain his own tried and tested system of qualification:
everybody has a chance to qualify from the Open; the Open winner advances
to the Masters, and the Masters winner competes with the world's best players
in the Giants.

You have often chosen to call the Frankfurt competition the world rapid
chess championship.

Yes, what else do all these people do in Frankfurt every year? Since 1998
the best rapid chess players decide who is to receive the black jacket
[comparable to the tradition in golf, the winner in our tournament is awarded
a winner's jacket]. Does the winner not deserve to be called the rapid chess
world champion of the free and non-affiliated chess world? I don't care about
FIDE, PCA or WCC; in Frankfurt all the best should play: in 1998 Kasparov,
Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk represented number 1 to 4 in the world ranking
list. We had the best rapid chess tournament of all times with a rating average
of 2,781 which is equal to category 22. Last year FIDE world champion Anatoly
Karpov instead of Ivanchuk guaranteed much more media interest. The spectators,
the media, the organiser and the players themselves want to know who is the
best. That's exactly why they take up the challenge in Frankfurt, in order
to obtain the black jacket.

How is the Fujitsu Siemens Giants 2000 put together?

We have signed contracts with number 1 to 6 in the current world rating list
which comprises a category 21 tournament with a Elo average of 2,767. Kasparov,
Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, Morozevich and Leko will be the human participants.
Fritz on Primergy will challenge the human giants in individual matches.
After 1998 the spectators will once again have an opportunity to see the
world-wide strongest possible rapid chess tournament. However, this time
six instead of four players will play a double round robin in order to find
the winner of the Fujitsu Siemens Giants. My challenging motto for the Chess
Classic 2000 was: engage the complete top ten.

Two features are surprising: Kasparov is back again although you both
had a bitter disagreement last year.

Self-discipline, courage and staying-power are fundamental qualities in achieving
enduring great success. Nobody can deny that Kasparov and I certainly possess
these qualities. As people borne under the sign of Aries the Ram sometimes
screw up their courage in a public debate this only demonstrates their readiness
to use impatience and unwillingness to compromise in order to achieve their
own defined goals. After the end of last year's tournament I personally
accompanied Kasparov to the airport. On this occasion he bubbled over with
ideas and how to implement them. In many cases he is absolutely right and
acts in a very constructive manner, in other cases he exaggerates greatly.
This was not very polite vis-à-vis the organisers; maybe it was not
very professional behaviour by both of us, but it does not matter as we are
on our way to new heights. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs.
However, that does not mean that we cannot argue for our beloved game of
chess. Mafia-like methods in FIDE practised by Ilyumzhinov and Tarasov require
without any apology a firm stance by the forces of a free market economy.

But has Kasparov not always said that under no condition will he play
against a chess computer programme in Frankfurt? However, you declared that
Fritz on Primergy - as winner of the Frankfurt-West Masters in 1999 - wins
the right to met the very best players.

In principle Kasparov has not refused to play against Fritz on Primergy.
However, I understand his vital financial interests as he does not want to
play against a chess programme on a commercial computer, like the 8-way Primergy,
in the first half of 2000. Instead of computer games we agreed he will give
a simul at 40 boards. This will be an absolute highlight. As the participants
of last year's Giants tournament have insisted that they do not wish to play
against human players on the same day as which they are required to meet
the computer, we fulfilled this in our new tournament schedule. My deepest
thanks go to our friend Vishy Anand who in the last few years greatly contributed
to the satisfaction of Fujitsu Siemens as the main sponsor when he played
against the computer. This time we have treated the issue in a flexible manner
and integrated mini-matches with two games between humans and computer into
the Giants' playing schedule. Unfortunately we will have to forego Garry's
computer games, but maybe his ambition will get the better of him.

What are the reasons behind Kasparov's refusal: there were rumours about
a one million match against a computer - or is it only fear of losing face?

Currently Garry Kasparov is the only player who has the ability to be part
of a million prize match. The understandable task of his manager Owen Williams
is to take care to optimise Kasparov's economic interests. However, the handling
and outcome of the failed world championship match between Anand and Kasparov
with a three million dollar prize fund was not very impressive although
professional organisers like Serge Grimaux and Bessel Kok were involved.
I do not wish anybody to come up now with an idea to hold a world championship
match between the current number 1 and 2, to match Kasparov versus Kramnik,
as this world championship would be nothing but a complete farce in classical
chess. As in Frankfurt, qualification criteria should be absolutely crystal
clear in order to show sponsors who is the world champion.

According to usual terminology in Kasparov's contracts you have to say
that Garry Kasparov is the world champion. Who do you think is the world
champion?

My personal view is not so important, it is the perception of the general
public that matters, namely the sponsors and all those who are interested
in chess although they do not play. I can describe this lack of clarity by
giving you some statements that are often made to me by others:

World-best player: Garry Kasparov

World champion in classical chess: Garry Kasparov

World champion in rapid chess: Garry Kasparov

World champion in blitz chess: Viswanathan Anand

World champion of FIDE: Anatoly Karpov

World champion from the Las Vegas event: Alexander Chalifman, who won a strange
mixture of classical, rapid and blitz chess.

In my opinion Garry Kasparov has been the unbeaten chess world champion since
1985 and remains in this position unless he retires or is beaten in a world
championship match! The disastrous management of FIDE world championships
under presidents Campomanes and Ilyumzhinov led to the format in
Groningen/Lausanne and Las Vegas 1999. These tournaments changed the image
of the game, and outcomes differed from traditional world championships.
Six million dollars for two years or three million per year for a world
championship where the best players are not competing is unreasonable from
a market economy point of view and, in consequence, no sponsors can be found
for Olympiads or a traditional world championship. FIDE did not succeed in
setting up attractive rapid chess or blitz chess tournaments as other types
of chess competitions with an economically efficient world championship.
Patronage à la Ilyumzhinov - no thanks! Similarly I regard the road
that Tarasov walks as a suspicious route. I think that sponsoring like Kasparov's
partnership with Intel is the only successful way to survive in a modern
funding world. However, Kasparov failed to grasp the opportunity to share
responsibilities for different activities. A world champion cannot play and
organise at the same time. All organisers of super tournaments, who are ignored
by FIDE, but who are excellent fund-raisers and have established great traditions
as in Linares, Wijk aan Zee, Dortmund or Frankfurt, should build an alliance
with the world class players in order to prepare a professional market for
chess activities. It is high time that a world-wide association with a
professional management is set up. FIDE with its current organisation and
activities has lost all right to act as a sole world-wide representative
of chess!

Here we have to refer to the second striking feature in the Fujitsu Siemens
Giants. In contrast to 1999, FIDE world champion Alexander Chalifman has
not been invited, as was his predecessor Karpov. In Linares he was one of
six participants.

Without any doubt Chalifman celebrated a respectable success with 4.5/10
and a shared third place. He certainly does not play any worse than other
players, but his world ranking place is only 31. This is not meant to belittle
his impressive performance in Las Vegas. After he lost against Leko 1.5:4.5
in January, there was no longer an appealing feature as we already had brought
together implacable opponents at a rapid chess event last year when Karpov
came to the Siemens Giants. This time the challenge was to bring all top
ten players to Frankfurt. When did the world's top ten chess players play
in one place before today?

That is why you exchanged Morozevich for Chalifman.

I regard Alexander Morozevich as a stimulating element in order to stop the
flood of draws like in Linares where more than 70% of games had no winner!
The dynamics of rapid chess will also lead to fewer draws and Frankfurt will
again offer exciting and hard-fought chess fights. In particular Morozevich
and Shirov will guarantee this due to their entertaining style. We do not
expect that all games between Leko, Anand and Kramnik will be drawn as is
often the case in classical chess. Linares certainly provided high quality
for chess addicts who prefer a scientific approach and high standard of chess
art. Nevertheless I would like to be a bit critical: there was no clear winner
and all the other players shared third place - or did they end up at the
bottom of the winning ranks? I believe that even with live coverage on the
Internet, presentation of the highest level in the chess world does not achieve
maximum effects in extending the market in chess interest. The world-best
players are content as there are no winners and no losers, but the ordinary
chess fan, the sponsors and the organisers see this in a different light.

You mentioned that all the top ten players are due to come to Frankfurt.
This means that Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk, Evgeny Bareev and Veselin
Topalov will play in the Masters?

That's right. If someone has to withdrew from the Giants due to health or
personal reasons we will have a substitute on the spot. The Masters would
be filled up with the runner-up in the Ordix Open 2000. With Adams, Ivanchuk,
Bareev and Topalov in the Masters we can rightly claim to have the world-best
rapid chess tournament plus a world championship qualification system. At
the FIDE world championship in Las Vegas, three of the top ten players were
absent, in Wijk aan Zee four and in Linares five of them were missing. We
are extremely happy with our composition. Personally I'm pleased that for
the first time Vassily Ivanchuk will give a simul at 40 boards in Germany.
This will be a delicacy for all chess addicts.

Your Masters event usually is designed in very sophisticated style; most
other organisers would be delighted to have the second Frankfurt event as
their main attraction. Who else is due to play? As winner of last year's
Ordix Open Loek van Wely must get promotion.

Loek van Wely has been invited as the winner of the Ordix Open 1999, the
winner of the Ordix Open 2000, which will be held on the weekend before,
will also join the Masters. In addition, Germany's No.1, Artur Yusupov, and
Robert Rabiega will complete the field.

Rabiega's invitation came as no surprise to insiders. He won the German
rapid chess title when the tournament was organised by your Frankfurt-West
chess club as part of the club's seventy-fifth jubilee celebration.

As organisers we announced this extra bonus before the German rapid chess
championship started. Rabiega has succeeded in leaving grandmasters such
as Kindermann, Lobron, Gutman and Hecht behind him.

Does Rabiega's selection mean turning away from the mad rush for high
categories, at least for the Masters?

We like to hold events with a motto. In 1999 the theme was Young players
U-28 and the computer, the year before it was Robert Hübner and his
opponents from world championship candidate matches. This year we will be
focussing on the world rating list and the qualified players as we do not
want to neglect our qualification system. However, the atmosphere of a rapid
chess world championship should be in the air.

What is the schedule for the Masters?

The Masters will be played as a double round robin over four days starting
at 2.30 P.M. The warm-up will be a computer game starting at 1.30 P.M. During
the evenings the Fujitsu Siemens Giants will take place. We will start on
Thursday 22 June, which is a public holiday in Germany, and finish on Sunday
25 June with the winners' party.

Last year's Ordix Open attracted a gigantic number of more than 400
participants, a quarter of whom had a title. Do you think you can take another
step up in numbers?

This will be the seventh Ordix Open which is the heart of the Frankfurt Chess
Classic. From 183 participants in 1994 we increased slowly to 432 players
in 1999. The attractiveness of the prize fund plays a crucial role. The split
into top, rating and special prizes has proved to be correct. You will not
very often find a prize fund of 43,000 DM (including 7,500 DM for the winner).
Extending to three days and 15 rounds will help find the best competitive
differentiation at the top and guarantee a weekend of pure chess activities.
Besides their own games participants will have the chance to follow the computer
matches by the players in the Giants. We attach even more attention to this
year's Ordix Open as we believe this underlines our alignment towards club
chess for everybody.

It seems as if the Ordix Open will be a delicious sweetmeat for chess
fans. Do you have other goodies in your pocket? You have already mentioned
the simuls.

The top ten in Frankfurt is the super cream flan, the matches of the giant
players against Fritz on Primergy are the chocolates, and our simuls with
Kasparov and Ivanchuk are the champagne truffles. However, the 'Grappa with
Cappuccino' is the Fischer Random Chess contest. For the simuls 50% of boards
will be offered via a completely fair auction system. On our homepage
(www.frankfurt-west.de) we will register requests and bids from 3 April onwards.
As in the stock market, underwriting for a new share issue (comparable to
the recent launch of Infineon or the forthcoming T-online entry) is possible
and we will register the points for each place. On 17 April the minimum price
will be fixed and trading will start. On 31 May the right to play will be
finally awarded.

This sounds very interesting. From the perspective of Schmitt, the Siemens
manager, what will the price of the new Kasparov and Ivanchuk issue ?

That's a very difficult question, but I would estimate an initial offer price
of 200 DM up to 400 DM for the Kasparov share. In Ivanchuk's case I guess
it will be between 50 and 100 DM.

And what about the Fischer-Random-Chess contest?

Artur Jusupov and the Fritz on Primergy will face each other on 23 and 25
June at 1.30 P.M. The Fischer-Random-Chess match will be played according
to rapid chess rules, and only the order of pieces at the back rank will
be determined by drawing lots. It is a reminiscence and an obeisance to the
great chess world champion Bobby Fischer. His innovative idea of time measurement
is now regularly used at FIDE events, but up to now his principle of randomly
placing pieces has been persistently ignored.

With respect to the large range of interesting competitions, has the organiser
still any unfulfilled wishes?

What questions you ask! I can definitely promise you that we will never ever
organise a match between Bobby Fischer and the Pope!

That's a pity. But what will there be then?

The Frankfurt Chess Classic was and will always be an innovative tournament.
We will come up with some surprises every year and we would like to continue
this logical development.